In the Heartbreakers series, we look at the dance floor tearjerkers that make your night special, whether that's at the height of your high or the plateau. Electronic music has the power to break hearts and this is an appreciation of those songs that get us all misty eyed. This time round, we caught up with 19 year old, Diplo approved wunderkid XO.
After much deliberation and plenty of soul searching, I've come to the conclusion that my Heartbreakers tune for THUMP has got to be "Take Me Away" by the true pioneers that are Chase & fucking Status…in the words of MC Rage of course.
Advertisement
I think the very first time I heard this track was way back at the beginning of high school, so I must've been about 12 or 13. One day I found myself rummaging through my uncle's vinyl collection to find something decent to play — and since he's a drum & bass purist to this very day, it was probably inevitable I was going to stumble across an early Chase & Status record. Though this wasn't my first introduction to them, I don't think I'd ever listened to their album More than Alot in full at that point.In the track's opening stages it's a very easy listen, typical of most D&B club records, with the intro comprising of breakbeats, atmospheric pads and airy vocals. But what struck a chord with me almost instantly was the modulated wonky, gliding mid range bass contributing to the build of the tune. This is something that C&S did so well in a handful of tunes – especially on the aforementioned More than Alot LP. The bassline melody is still as infectious as the very first time I heard it, and when in combination with the big vocal samples and sub, once it drops…it's an experience. Absolute euphoria. Obviously, at the time I first heard this tune I probably hadn't even started puberty, so the chances of me getting in to any sort of club without ID were minute. As for fake ID, does any 13 year old know how to go about getting one? Even so, regardless of the obstacles I faced, I was still determined to hear this absolute monster live…
Advertisement
Ok, so it took me about four or five years to get there but I was still underage when I did eventually hear it live, so it still felt a little bit rebellious. It was a couple of years back now, I was 17 on my first holiday with the LAAAAADS – so obviously we went to Magaluf. Jokes aside, we were staying in Mallorca Rocks, and with the hotel being so big on live events, we were pretty much spoilt for choice when it came to picking which acts to see. I think it got announced on the day we landed that Chase & Status would be playing that same night, so as you can imagine, as a huge fan and owner of their full digital discography dating back from 2005-present, this was something I just had to do.Now up until this point, I'd never seen the boys live, so I had virtually no idea of what to expect — I assumed they'd be playing most of their new stuff with the Brand New Machine album due later that year. Nonetheless, there I was, stood awkwardly in a crowd of sweaty, pill-taking, shuffling Essex wankers, awaiting the introduction of C&S whilst the warm up DJs brought their set to a close.I'd been producing for a little while at that point in time, and with me being influenced by so many new sounds and styles, most of the drum & bass/jungle/breaks music I used to listen to had disappeared under the radar. I thought I'd maybe outgrown it or fallen out of love with the genre, so there were a lot of records I'd completely forgot about. In a way that's why "Take Me Away" is such a special tune for me personally, mid-way through that Chase & Status set, creeping through the sound system was that oh-so familiar bassline, and on this occasion, there wasn't just a sense of euphoria, but nostalgia too. Once it dropped, it was at that specific moment in time that I was reminded of why I still love it so much.Follow XO on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter